Filler feeler



March 7, 1967 R. L. MOORE 3,307,594

FILLER FEELER Filed June 5, 1965 (Jim [27' 4/ 2/ 3 Y tA ROBERT L. MOORE INVENTOR ATTORNEY United States Patent 3,307,594 FILLER FEELER Robert L. Moore, Canton, Ga. 30114 Filed June 3, 1965, Ser. No. 461,020 7 Claims. (Cl. 139281) This invention relates to looms utilized in weaving cloth, and more particularly to a method and apparatus for detecting the presence or absence of filling on a bobbin of a shuttle for laying weft in the shed of a loom.

In the past, various devices have been developed to detect the exhaustion of filling on a bobbin in a loom during the weaving process. Since the shuttle travels at a very high rate of speed in a high speed loom, and since the shuttle must be unencumbered during its travel between the warp yarns, the previous detecting devices have traditionally embodied a finger-like feeler that moved toward and engaged the bobbin or the filler present thereon when the shuttle was in the shuttle box. In a high speed loom operation, the shuttle remains in the shuttle box as short a period of time as necessary, just long enough for the Warp yarns to change position and for the shuttle to decelerate and accelerate in reversing its direction of motion. Accordingly, the previous fingerlike feeling mechanisms have had only an instant in which to detect the presence or absence of filling on the 'bobbin, and the function of the detecting device has had to be precisely timed with the motion of the shuttle in the loom.

Because of the very short period of time available for a detecting device to engage the bobbin of a loom, and the various vibrations and movements of high speed loom operation, the previously known filling detecting devices have frequently given out signals that cause a bobbin that has a substantial amount of filling remaining thereon to be replaced by a full bobbin. This, of course, causes a substantial amount of filling to be wasted that would otherwise have been utilized in the weaving process had the detecting device given an accurate signal.

Thus, this invention comprises a method and apparatus for instantaneously and periodically engaging a bobbin of a loom whereby a finger-like feeling device will initiate action to replace a bobbin on which no filling is present by engaging a transmitter rod leading from the detecting device toward the mechanism for replacing the bobbin, and whereby the transmitter rod will be removed from the vicinity of the finger-like feeling device when filling is present on the bobbin so that a false signal due to vibrations or the like, cannot be transmitted from the finger-like feeling device to the transmitter rod.

Accordingly, it is an object of this invention to provide a method for accurately detecting the presence or absence of filling on a bobbin on a loom.

It is another object of this invention to provide an apparatus for detecting the presence or absence of filling on a bobbin of a loom.

It is another object of this invention to provide an apparatus for engaging the bobbin of a loom to actuate a bobbin replacement mechanism when the supply of filling on the bobbin is exhausted.

Other objects, features and advantages of this invention will become apparent upon reading the following specification, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a plan view of a loom filling detector with the cover removed shown in association with a shuttle and a bobbin, showing the manner in which the transmitter rod is removed from the plane of motion of the feeler rod;

FIG. 2 is a plan view of the loom filling detector, similar to FIG. 1, but showing the movement of the feeler rod when no filling is present on the bobbin;

3,307,594 Patented Mar. 7, 1967 FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of the loom filling detector with its cover removed, taken-along lines 33 of FIG. 1, showing the transmitter rod removed from the plane of motion of the feeler rod; and,

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view of the loom filling detector with its cover removed, similar to FIG. 3, but taken along lines 44 of FIG. 2.

Referring now more particularly to the drawings, FIG. 1 shows a loom filling detector 9 having a casing 10 of substantially rectangular configuration, defining threaded apertures 11, 12, and 13 arranged to threadably receive screws for attaching a cover (not shown) to the casing 10 and for mounting the casing on a reciprocating device utilized to position the casing in close association with the shuttle in the shuttle box. The casing 10 has side walls 15, 16, 17, 18 and 19 extending around its perimeter so as to form a shallow working area 20 for the moving components within the casing. The end wall 16 has a cut out portion 21 so that the cover (not shown), which has a complementarily shaped tab, can

fit over the casing and be attached thereto with a single' screw threaded into one of the holes 11-13.

The working area 20 defines a short slide 23 and a long slide 24 which are disposed parallel with each other and disposed on opposite sides of the working area 20. The short slide 23 has projections 26 and 27 at its ends which are projected up to bear against the cover (not shown). The long slide 24 has a similar projection 28 on one of its ends.

The end wall 16 has an abutment wall 30 projecting inwardly of the working area 20. The abutment wall 30 is displaced from the projections 26 and 28 of the short and long slides 23 and 24, respectively, so that a channel 31 is formed between the abutment wall 30 and the two projections 26 and 28.

An L-shaped feeler rod 35 has one of its ends 36 extending between and supported on the slides 23 and 24, and the other of its ends 37 projecting from the casing 10. The end 36 of the feeler rod 35 has a small indentation 39 near its mid point so that a spring 40 can be attached thereto. The spring 40 extends between the end 36 of the feeler rod 35 and the projection 41 of the end wall 19 of the casing 10. Thus, the feeler rod is biased by the spring 40 so that it normally rests against the projection 27 of the slide 23 and the abutment 42 of the end wall of the casing 10.

A U-shaped pivot rod 44 is housed in the casing 10 in the channel 31 formed between the abutment wall 30 and The ends 45 and 46 of the U-shaped pivot rod 44 are disposed substantially parallel to the slides 23 and 24, with the leg 45 being tapered at its end 47. The tapered end 47 of the U-shaped pivot rod 44 is closely disposed with the end 36 of the feeler rod 35 so that movement of the feeler rod 35 against the bias of the spring 40, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 3, causes the U-shaped pivot rod to pivot about the base of the U disposed in the channel 31.

The feeler rod 35 has a tip 38 attached to its end 37 projecting from the casing 10, which tip is formed of plastic, or thelike, and arranged to instantaneously and periodically bear against the bobbin 50 of a shuttle in the shuttle box of a loom (not shown) during operation of the loom.

The end wall 15 of the casing 10 defines a slot 55 through which a transmitter rod 56 extends. The transmitter rod 56 is of the type adapted to initiate action in the loom to replenish the filling supply of the shuttle in a well known manner by conventional mechanism not forming part of the present invention. The slot 55 extends the entire width of the inner portion of the casing 10 and the cover (not shown). The end 46 of the U-shaped pivot rod 44 is pivoted about the base of its U in the channel 31 3 and the end 46 will engage the transmitter rod 56 and raise it, as shown in FIG. 3.

OPERATION In a high speed loom the shuttle 51 reciprocates at a high rate of speed in the direction indicated by the arrow A of FIG. 1. When the shuttle 51 has traveled between the warp yarn of the loom and has instantaneously come to rest in the shuttle box, the loom filling detector 9 which reciprocates in the directions as indicated by the arrow 57 moves toward the shuttle 51 so that the feeler rod 35 and its tip 38 extend through an elongated hole 59 in the side of the shuttle. If the bobbin 50 has a supply of filling 52 thereon, the tip 38 of the feeler rod 35 will engage the filling 52 so that further movement of the loom filling detector toward the right, as viewed in FIG. 1, will cause the feeler rod 35 to stretch the spring 40 so that the end 36 of the feeler rod 35 moves beneath the curved end 47 of the leg 45 of the U-shaped pivot rod 44 so that as the end 36 moves across the leg 45 the U-shaped pivot rod pivots about its base in the channel 31 so that its end 46 also pivots and raises the transmitter rod 56. Since the slides 23 and 24 are substantially smooth, the end 36 of the feeler rod 35 will move freely in the casing when filling 52 on the bobbin 50 causes the feeler rod 35 to act against the bias of the spring 40.

With this arrangement any vibrations of the shuttle or movement of the shuttle in the shuttle box that might cause the feeler rod 35 to pivot will not be effective to cause the feeler rod to transmit a false signal to the transmitter rod since the transmitter rod will be removed from the plane of movement of the feeler rod.

As the filling 52 on the bobbin 50 is depleted by further functioning of the loorn, the feeler rod 35 will not be moved into the casing It to as great an extent as when the bobbin was full of filling; however, since the leg 45 is tapered near its end portion only a small movement of the feeler rod 35 is required to cause the U-shaped pivot rod 44- to pivot to raise the transmitter rod 56.

When the filling 52 on the bobbin 50 is completely exhausted, the wooden portion of the bobbin 50 is exposed to the plastic tip 38 which offers little resistance to the tip so that it tends to slide over the bobbin St). The sliding of the tip 38 over the surface of the bobbin 54) causes the feeler rod 35 to pivot since the projection 27 acts a fulcrum, as shown in FIG. 2. Since the movement of the feeler rod 35 on the empty bobbin is pivotal, the end 36 of the feeler rod 35 will not slide under the leg 45 of the U-shaped pivot rod 44 to cause the pivot rod 44 to pivot, as previously disclosed. Thus, the transmitter rod 56 is not raised, but remains in the same plane with the feeler rod 35. When the feeler rod 35 pivots in the direction as indicated by the arrow 60, it engages the transmitter rod 56, as shown in FIG. 2, so that the transmitter rod is moved along its axis to transmit a signal to a device to initiate action to replace the empty bobbin.

With this arrangement it can be seen that unusual vibrations of the shuttle in the shuttle box which might ordinarily cause the feeler rod 35 to move as indicated in the dotted lines of FIG. 1, to give a false indication to the transmitter rod 56 will be totally ineffective to initiate a false signal in this invention since the transmitter rod 56 is removed from the plane of movement of the feeler rod when engaging a full bobbin. Furthermore, if the reciprocal timing of the loom filling detector does not exactly coincide with the reciprocal timing of the shuttle, so that the shuttle starts on its return movement before the loom filling detector is completely withdrawn and the feeler rod 35 removed from the aperture 59 in the shuttle, the filling on the bobbin will have caused the U-shaped pivot rod 44 to remove the transmitter rod 56 from the plane of motion of a feeler rod 3-5 so that the feeler rod will move beneath the transmitter rod 56, as shown in FIG. 1.

Thus, it can be seen, that this invention eliminates premature removal of a bobbin from a loom which is commonly caused by vibration and poor timing in the operation of the loom.

This invention is not limited to the particular embodiment disclosed, but many modifications may be made, and the full use of equivalents resorted to, without departing from the scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A filling detector for a bobbin comprising a casing, a short slide surface, a long slide surface, a projection on said short slide surface, an L-shaped feeler rod having a first leg slidable across said slide surfaces and a second leg projecting outwardly of said casing, a tip on said second leg for engaging a bobbin, a spring means extending between said casing and said first leg of said L-shaped feeler rod to bias said first leg of said feeler rod against said projection, a transmitter rod disposed substantially perpendicular to said second leg of said feeler rod and adapted to be moved by pivotal motion of said feeler rod, a U-shaped pivot rod having a first leg juxtaposed said transmitter rod and a second leg juxtaposed said first leg of said feeler rod, said second leg of said U- shaped pivot rod being curved at its end portion remote from the base of its U, whereby movement of said L- shaped feeler rod parallel to its second leg causes its first leg to pivot said U-shaped pivot rod about its base and move said transmitter rod away from said feeler rod.

2. A filling detector comprising an L-shaped feeler rod having a first leg adapted to extend toward the bobbin of a loom and a second leg disposed substantially perpendicular to said first leg, a fulcrum, biasing means for biasing said L-shaped feeler rod toward said bobbin until said second leg engages said fulcrum whereby said L-shaped feeler rod is capable of pivotal movement about said fulcrum and movement parallel to its said first leg, a transmitter rod juxtaposed said first leg of said L- shaped feeler rod and adapted to be moved by pivotal motion of said feeler 'rod, and means engaging said second leg of said L-shaped feeler rod for moving said transmitter rod away from said feeler rod when said feeler rod is moved parallel to its said first leg.

3. A filling detector for a bobbin comprising feeler means adapted to engage the bobbin of a shuttle in a loom, said bobbin having a first state in which filling is carried by said bobbin and a second state in which said bobbin is empty, biasing means for biasing said feeler means toward said bobbin, slide means associated with said feeler means presenting a surface over which said feeler means can slide, fulcrum means associated with said slide means about which said feeler means can pivot when said bobbin means is in said second state, pivot means associated with said feeler means, said pivot means being adapted to pivot in response to motion of said feeler means over said slide means, transmitter means adapted to be operatively associated with said feeler means when said bobbin is in said second state, said transmitter means being further associated with said pivot means whereby pivoting of said latter means moves said transmitter means out of operative association with said feeler means when said bobbin is in said first state.

4. The apparatus of claim 3 wherein said slide means is fixed, said pivot means is U-shaped having a first leg associated with said transmitter means and a second leg associated with said feeler means, said slide means and said second leg defining a space through which said feeler means can slide in its movement over said slide means, said space having a vertical dimension which is sufiicient to accommodate said feeler means when said feeler means abuts said fulcrum means but is insufficient therebeyond without upward movement of said second leg of said U-shaped pivot means.

5. The apparatus of claim 4 wherein said second leg 5 has a curved terminal portion, the curvature extending away from said slide means.

6. The apparatus of claim 3 wherein said feeler means has a first portion adapted to contact said bobbin and a second portion angularly disposed with respect to said first portion, said second portion being slidably posi- -'tioned on said slide means.

7. The apparatus of claim 3 wherein said transmitter means is arranged with respect to said pivot means and said feeler means that pivoting of said pivot means causes said transmitter means to be moved to a vertical plane different from the vertical plane of said feeler means.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS MERVIN STEIN, Primary Examiner.

J. KEECI-II, Assistant Examiner. 

2. A FILLING DETECTOR COMPRISING AN L-SHAPED FEELER ROD HAVING A FIRST LEG ADAPTED TO EXTEND TOWARD THE BOBBIN OF A LOOM AND A SECOND LEG DISPOSED SUBSTANTIALLY PERPENDICULAR TO SAID FIRST LEG, A FULCRUM, BIASING MEANS FOR BIASING SAID L-SHAPED FEELER ROD TOWARD SAID BOBBIN UNTIL SAID SECOND LEG ENGAGES SAID FULCRUM WHEREBY SAID L-SHAPED FEELER ROD IS CAPABLE OF PIVOTAL MOVEMENT ABOUT SAID FULCRUM AND MOVEMENT PARALLEL TO ITS SAID FIRST LEG, A TRANSMITTER ROD JUXTAPOSED SAID FIRST LEG OF SAID LSHAPED FEELER ROD AND ADAPTED TO BE MOVED BY PIVOTAL MOTION OF SAID FEELER ROD, AND MEANS ENGAGING SAID SECOND LEG OF SAID L-SHAPED FEELER ROD FOR MOVING SAID TRANSMITTER ROD AWAY FROM SAID FEELER ROD WHEN SAID FEELER ROD IS MOVED PARALLEL TO ITS SAID FIRST LEG. 